Operations are now returning to normal

The problem that arose this morning with the ground communications system in the Area Control operations room at NATS Swanwick has now been resolved and operations are returning to normal.

The technical and operational contingency measures we have had in place all day have enabled us to deliver more than 80% of our normal operation. The reduction in capacity has had a disproportionate effect on southern England because it is extremely complex and busy airspace and we sincerely regret inconvenience to our airline customers and their passengers.

To be clear, this is a very complex and sophisticated system with more than a million lines of software. This is not simply internal telephones, it is the system that controllers use to speak to other ATC agencies both in the UK and Europe and is the biggest system of its kind in Europe.

This has been a major challenge for our engineering team and for the manufacturer, who has worked closely with us to ensure this complex problem was resolved as quickly as possible while maintaining a safe service.